Fury confesses to two fires at shipyard, sent back to jail

Wednesday

Aug 1, 2012 at 12:16 PMAug 1, 2012 at 4:40 PM

PORTLAND, Maine — A U.S. District Court judge ordered accused arsonist Casey Fury back to jail Wednesday. The decision came after a detention hearing in which it was learned that Fury confessed on videotape to setting the fire that damaged the USS Miami and second fire later on at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Deborah McDermott

PORTLAND, Maine — A U.S. District Court judge ordered accused arsonist Casey Fury back to jail Wednesday. The decision came after a detention hearing in which it was learned that Fury confessed on videotape to setting the fire that damaged the USS Miami and second fire later on at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

He also confessed to setting off a fire alarm several days after the second fire.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III said Fury deserves to be behind bars until his trial on two counts of arson because he showed “utter disregard for the safety of others” in setting the fires at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Rich said he was most concerned with Fury’s “candor.” Fury stated in writing that he did not have a problem with drugs and alcohol, when in fact he was convicted of drunken driving and possession of marijuana in 2009 and was charged with operating under the influence by Dover police on June 14 of this year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee also hinted at a history of binge drinking and an incident in which Fury burned his own hand.

The judge’s decision came after a three-hour hearing at the U.S. District Court in Portland. Testimony was heard from, among others, Fury’s father and the operation officer aboard the USS Miami, who said he was severely injured on the night of the May 23 Miami fire.

Close to a dozen family members crowded the small hearing room, several openly distraught when Fury was brought in. Fury himself looked straight ahead throughout the hearing, and did not appear to look at anyone who was testifying.

Fury is charged with setting the fire that caused $400 million in damage to the Miami, in dry dock at the time for an overhaul, and with setting a small fire June 16 outside the submarine on the dry dock. Although he has not been charged with setting off the fire alarm on June 19 near the USS Miami, he did confess to that incident, it was learned at the hearing.

McElwee requested that Fury be held without bail, despite the fact that U.S. probation officer Gregory Giblin testified he felt Fury could be released to his father, an Eliot, Maine resident, and his stepmother.

Defense attorney David Beneman argued that his client sought inpatient treatment after these incidents, is on new medications, and now that he is not in the “restricted environment” of the shipyard he does not pose a danger to the community.

Brett Boley, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent now in charge of the case, said on July 20, the day of Fury’s arrest, a videotaped reenactment of both the May 23 and June 16 fires was made.

He said Fury was taken to the USS Pasadena, also in dry dock at the shipyard, and “demonstrated where and when he started the fire.” The Pasadena is also a Los Angeles class submarine. He also was videotaped showing how he set the June 16 fire.

Fury’s motivation for all three fires, according to Boley, was to get out of work. He also said that Fury made a sworn statement in mid-June that he didn’t know how the May 23 fire was started.

Under cross examination from Beneman, Boley said Fury was calm, respectful and cooperative throughout the interviews.

Giblin said in testimony that he felt under the proper conditions, Fury could be released to his father, but said that he could not consider the underlying charges in making the decision.

James Fury told the court that his son could stay at his house, and said his wife, Margaret, would be able to watch after him while he was at work. He said he believed his son would listen to him and didn’t believe his neighbors should be concerned for their safety.

McElwee said she was filing five victim statements with the court, written by those who were involved in fighting the fire on May 23. Lt. Richard McMunn, who wrote one of the statements, was in court to read his statement aloud.

McMunn said he was among the first to enter the burning submarine on May 23 and nearly died as a result of injuries he sustained. He said he fell into a hole created in the deck, striking the left side of his torso.

“It knocked the wind out of me. I felt the sensation of ribs breaking. The pain was so intense I didn’t know I had injured my knee,” he said. He said he crawled only five or six feet forward before he realized he was too injured to go on.

Despite his injuries, he said he had to climb up a two-story tall ladder, and “I never experienced anything more excruciating. In retrospect, I believe there was a great force looking after me that day.”

He said he spent the next three weeks recovering, while his fellow submariners had to fill his job as well as their own.

“(Fury’s) actions of setting fire to a U.S. Navy war ship is reprehensible,” he said. “This is a man who does not understand the effect of his actions.”

In closing arguments, McElwee said it is the second fire “that tells the tale.” She said Fury might not have known the first fire would get so out of control. “But what kind of person knows all that and sets another fire? Clearly he has a history of doing stupid, dangerous things when he’s stressed out.”

Benneman said his client has received treatment for his depresssion and anxiety and is on new medications that make it possible for him to live at his father’s and even get a job.

Fury’s anxiety “only occurred when he was working in a restricted environment and has serious limitations.” The fires were “analagous to a middle-schooler who drops a cigarette in a trash can expecting it will postpone a problem they have.”

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